Charlie McBrearty and Vanessa McLean of Shortlist, West Hollywood, Calif., are handling West Coast representation for Amber Music, which has offices in London, New York and Los Angeles….Samanta Balassa has come on board as a rep at R2, the New York-based firm headed by Richard Fink and Robin Fried….Global Production Network, Los Angeles, has signed Miracle Films of Greece, Acasa Esana of Belgium and Gulliver Films of the Ukraine for exclusive U.S. representation, thus continuing its expansion to offer production service resources to producers looking to shoot in Europe….DP Manuel Alberto Claro is now exclusively repped for commercials, music videos and features through Lyons Sheldon Prosnit, Los Angeles….DP John Toll has wrapped principal photography on the Cameron Crowe-directed Elizabethtown with Orlando Bloom and Kirsten Dunst. Toll is now available for commercials through The Judy Marks Agency, Los Angeles….DP Dan Stoloff has completed principal photography on Nick Guthe’s Mini’s First Time and is again available for spots through The Skouras Agency, Santa Monica….
DirecTV Buys Dish As Satellite Rivals Hunker Down Against Onslaught Of Streaming Services
DirecTV is buying Dish and Sling, a deal it has sought to complete for years, as the company seeks to better compete against streaming services that have become dominant. DirecTV said Monday that it will acquire Dish TV and Sling TV from its owner EchoStar in a debt exchange transaction that includes a payment of $1, plus the assumption of approximately $9.8 billion in debt. The prospect of a DirecTV-Dish combo has long been rumored, with headlines about reported talks popping up over the years. And the two almost merged more than two decades ago — but the Federal Communications Commission blocked their owners' then-$18.5 billion deal, citing antitrust concerns. The pay-for-TV market has shifted significantly since. As more and more consumers tune into online streaming giants, demand for more traditional satellite continues to shrink. And, although high-profile acquisitions have proven to be particularly tough under the Biden-Harris administration, that may make regulators more inclined to approve DirecTV and Dish's pairing this time around. DirecTV said Monday that the transaction will help it bring smaller content packages to consumer at lower prices and essentially provide a one-stop shopping experience for entertainment programming. It's hoping this will appeal to those who have left satellite video services for streaming. The company said that combined, DirecTV and Dish have collectively lost 63% of their satellite customers since 2016. "DirecTV operates in a highly competitive video distribution industry," DirecTV CEO Bill Morrow said in a statement. "With greater scale, we expect a combined DirecTV and Dish will be better able to work with programmers to realize our vision for the future of tv, which is to aggregate, curate, and distribute... Read More